Can We Learn From History?

I was reading what Greenspan said in an interview and I've come to realize that he may have had something to do with the opinion that we are in Iraq for the oil. The fact was that the administration
(or anyone else who voted to go in there) never said - ever- that it was for the oil . Since the purpose was to make certain that terrorists would not get help from an obviously delusional dictator - it left me perplexed as to how the oil idea ever started.

Well, Greenspan (no fan of Bush) said that getting Saddam out of Iraq was essential for the global economy. He also made it clear that by saying that -he was Not saying that oil was the purpose for the administration's decision to go in.


When General Sanchez said some media reporting caused loss of lives of our service men - it brought back (again) memories of Viet Nam and how some politicians and activists were guilty of that same thing.
Example:
I read, back then, how our soldiers in Viet Nam took a certain hill from the enemy - losing men in the process - and because of what was going on back home they were told to pull back! The enemy then took the hill. Things changed back home - so our guys were able to retake the hill - but lost more men. The whole thing repeated a third time! It was as if those first lives lost in taking that hill weren't important!....They had the hill but - oh well - pull back while we argue about this.

All those years we were over there to help the people in South Viet Nam keep the communists from taking over the southern part of the country and it seemed like a stalemate...for years.... and then victory for the enemy. We were a super power! They were a little bitty country! No - half of a little bitty country! It shouldn't have happened! All those men who died - for what people say now was for nothing! It didn't have to happen that way but largely thanks to our clamoring activists - it did. Thanks, again, to them - many of those who fought in Viet Nam came home to jeers and disrespect.
For what?
...For trying to help South Viet Nam keep their right to freedom? They were heroes! Memories like these - are where I am coming from. What many forgot is - communism = no freedom. Where communism comes in belief in God is forcefully pushed out in favor of atheism - so forget religious freedom. We were trying to help the south keep their freedom. It means something to us so surely we should understand what it meant to them.

Once the decision is made to use our military - we need to back them. Nothing good can come from doing what was done in the past. We need to learn from it - not repeat it.